00:00:17
(intense music) - [Vivica] Observing the signs. - [Parm] He's in
a state of shock
00:00:23
at finding his mother like that. - [Vivica] Detecting
changing stories. - [Robyn] There's this
big breathing moment.
(exhaling)
00:00:34
- [Robyn] And then comes
the new version of events. - [Vivica] Spotting
when to hold back.
00:00:46
- [Vivica] And when to close in. - People who lie,
love to create. And that's what you're
looking for in an interrogation.
00:00:54
And this is
a moment of creation. - I'm Vivica A. Fox. I'm about to give you
exclusive access
00:01:00
into the secrets
of the interrogation room. See how
the world's finest detectives,
00:01:06
armed only with their wits, hone in on their suspects, break down their lies, and expose the shocking truth.
00:01:13
We'll examine the signs
a suspect is lying and reveal the expert techniques that result in
an all-important confession,
00:01:23
while getting justice for
the victims and their families. - Internally, his emotions
are beginning to unravel.
00:01:32
There's a lot more to this guy
than meets the eye. (intense music) - [Vivica] Citrus County.
00:01:46
17-year-old Carlos Hallowell has been brought
to police headquarters while authorities arrange
for him to be taken into care.
00:01:55
Just over three hours earlier, at 6:15 p.m., he made a frantic 911 call. (phone rings)
00:02:21
- [Vivica] Carlos was
relaying a horrific scene. His mother, Denise Hallowell,
lying in bed
00:02:27
with an axe embedded in
the side of her head. (dial tone) - [Vivica]
Police and paramedics arrive
00:02:45
to find Carlos
in a state of severe distress. - [Vivica] His mother, Denise,
was unresponsive
00:02:51
and pronounced dead 6:50 p.m. Denise Hallowell
had adopted Carlos, a Guatemalan-born orphan,
in 2006,
00:03:06
when he was just four years old, and raised him
as a single mother. Fast forward
some 13 years later,
00:03:13
with Carlos almost 18 years old, on July 13th, 2019. Denise and Carlos attended
the funeral of a family friend
00:03:23
in nearby St Petersburg. After returning home to
their secluded lakeside house,
00:03:29
they sat in the kitchen table
and ate apple pie together, then both retired to their rooms
for an afternoon nap.
00:03:36
Three hours later,
Carlos was calling 911. - [Vivica] Denise was lying
face-down on her bed, dying.
00:03:57
- I know. - The case is
automatically a homicide. In order to track down
Denise Hallowell's killer,
00:04:07
the cops race to gather
the critical evidence quickly before the trail goes cold.
00:04:50
- So this is a 17-year-old child who's found his mother,
who is dead, with an axe
embedded in her skull.
00:04:58
This is more trauma than most
people have in their lifetime. - There are implications
of interviewing a 17-year-old,
00:05:06
because they're under-age,
they're under 18. But, at the same time, you've got to balance
the needs of that 17-year-old
00:05:14
against the needs
of this investigation. There's a person running around
who's just committed murder.
00:05:38
- We'll try to
interview anybody that
could possibly be a witness or involved with the case,
right away.
00:05:42
If they were
traumatized by it, we don't go into
a really detailed interview because victims that
have been traumatized
00:05:48
may not memorize as well,
right there and then. So we'll usually
wait several days,
00:05:53
but we'll still get
a baseline of what happened and get their story or
their version of what occurred.
00:05:57
There could have been somebody
that was loose that we don't,
know another killer.
00:06:01
We didn't know at the time. We didn't have any facts yet, because we hadn't done
all our investigative stuff yet.
00:06:07
- [Ciolino] You know, when
you're dealing with young men, their frontal lobe
in their brain
00:06:11
is not fully developed
till they're 24, 25. Physically, you look like
you're talking to an adult male.
00:06:17
But you have to remember,
you're dealing with a kid. - At this point, the detectives
don't know what's going on.
00:06:24
They need to find out
what happened in that house as quickly as possible. At the same time, the detectives
are gonna tread really carefully
00:06:33
to ensure not to further
traumatize this young child whose mother is dead. - Despite detectives needing to
00:06:54
treat the traumatized Carlos
with care, he is still the last person
to have seen his mother alive.
00:07:00
They need to push him for as much information
as they can at this crucial stage.
00:07:59
- [Vivica] Carlos remains
extraordinarily calm for someone who
just found their mother dead
00:08:04
with an axe in her head. Is this the result of trauma, or could this be a red flag
for detectives?
00:08:11
- Everybody reacts
differently to trauma, so we don't go just based on
how their reactions are,
00:08:15
but more of their statements and what
they're saying occurred, if it makes sense or not,
and if it's plausible.
00:08:21
- [Vivica] Certainly Carlos's
body language could be enough to rule him out
as a suspect.
00:08:26
- Looking for the baselines, breathing nice and calm, you know,
lots of good eye contact,
00:08:33
normal sort of gestures with
the hands, quite animated, wasn't looking to
shift his posture,
00:08:38
no signs of deception. You know, this is somebody
that could be innocent. - For now, the cops
focus on the facts
00:08:47
and work through Carlos' version
of events in fine detail. If his story can be verified,
00:08:52
Citrus County police will have the confidence
to focus elsewhere. Coming up,
inconsistencies are revealed.
00:09:05
- [Vivica] Detectives
confront Hallowell. - [Vivica] July, 2019, 17-year-old Carlos Hallowell's
mother, Denise,
00:09:21
has been brutally murdered
with an axe. As the last person
to see her alive, Carlos has been assisting
Citrus County detectives
00:09:29
in the hunt for her killer. - He's almost like painting
a picture, this idyllic picture.
00:11:02
Him and his mom,
they went out for the day. Okay, they did
go to a funeral in the morning,
00:11:06
then they went for pie,
she got him his treat, then they came back,
had a little rest.
00:11:11
And this is terrible,
we're in our own home and somebody has attacked
and murdered my mom.
00:11:17
- [Vivica] But from the outset, there are details
in Carlos's story that are just not ringing true.
00:11:41
- I saw the injuries that
this woman sustained. There was no breathing after she got her head caved in
00:11:46
with a five-pound axe, okay? And so Carlos is creating,
all right? And people who lie
love to create
00:11:53
and that's what you're
looking for in an interrogation. We want them to create, and this is
a moment of creation.
00:11:58
"Well, when I got there, "I think
she was still breathing." Really? Really, Carlos,
you think WE believe that?
00:12:06
No, but they play it cool
and they don't confront him yet. - Instead,
the detectives asked Carlos
00:12:12
for a detailed description of the hours leading up to
his mother's horrific murder.
00:12:19
They want to see what
other lies he might create. - So I mean, Carlos's got
superhuman hearing, right?
00:13:24
And the detective catches
onto this pretty quick and he's trying to backpedal. He's trying to
back out of this story
00:13:29
when he understands
and realizes, "Ah, well I got my TV on,
she got her TV on,
00:13:34
"and I'm telling 'em
I didn't hear anything "but I actually heard her TV
through two closed doors."
00:13:39
So now the story's
starting to get weak. It's like a table
with three legs, it's starting to shake a lot.
00:14:41
- [Maleary] About 50 minutes
into the interview, both the detectives get up
and leave the interview room,
00:14:46
leaving Carlos Hallowell
on his own. This would've been
a tactical ploy. There could be a tactical
advisor sitting outside
00:14:53
listening to what's going on. It may be something around the evidence that
they had available,
00:14:59
so they could drip feed it
into the interview. - [Vivica] The detectives return
00:15:04
after gathering
more background information. They start a new line
of questioning.
00:15:09
- [Maleary] Despite the way that Hallowell describes his
idyllic life with his mother,
00:15:15
what he failed to mention
that on a previous occasion, he'd assaulted her
and broken her arm.
00:15:59
- [Vivica] Carlos
starts to open up, claiming his mother
would punish him physically.
00:16:49
- But he said at the time
that it was self-defense. As a result of it,
he then left the home
00:16:54
and was staying with friends
for a few months. And it's when
he started to calm down,
00:16:59
take medication
for his depression that she allowed him
back in the home. - [Vivica] Carlos claims
00:17:21
he and his mother
patched things up and he was welcomed home
with open arms. In reality, Denise was scared.
00:17:29
- His mother had CCTV installed because of his behavior. The fact is that
she didn't trust him,
00:17:37
and he had a very sinister side
to his behavior. - [Darren] That becomes a bit of
a tipping point with Hallowell
00:18:48
because that's when
we begin to see, you know, these increased signs
of anxiety.
00:18:52
Lots of anger micro-expressions, lots of prolonged eye contact, which we've not really
seen before, with the officer.
00:19:00
And as we know
from experience and research, that prolonged eye contact is
not only to try to sell a lie,
00:19:06
that's the first level
of aggression. - [Vivica] As the cops
continue to probe,
00:19:16
it dawns on Carlos that
he's become a prime suspect. - No, I did not do it! I did not harm my mother, right?
00:19:57
So Carlos might be
watching some TV and getting a few hints
from that, or read a book in the library
about interrogations,
00:20:04
but it's all false bravado
going on, okay? Because he's not emoting
anywhere else.
00:20:10
Now you've
accused me of something, I'm gonna emote a little bit. But he should have been
emoting all day.
00:20:15
- [Vivica] Carlos is upset, but the detectives
aren't buying it, and decide to push harder.
00:20:29
- If we're not getting a lot
of stuff that makes sense or we're trying to get some
kind of reaction out of him
00:20:34
to see if he flares up
at one end or another, or whoever we're interviewing, sometimes we will do
stuff like that
00:20:40
to see what kind of reaction
we get out of it. - [Vivica] Carlos' mother Denise
00:20:43
had reported her son's earlier
assault to the cops. At the time,
the investigating officer
00:20:49
had expressed concern about
his psychological profile. - Hallowell didn't like
the fact that
00:22:01
he was being labelled. It's very, very strong, to go into a 17-year-old
with these comments.
00:22:09
However, the officer, I believe, carried out
this line of questioning in order to get a reaction.
00:22:15
He wanted Hallowell
to show the true person. - Now, sociopaths
have no feeling,
00:22:20
they have no moral obligation, they have no empathy. So from that point, then I began to think, ah,
00:22:29
there's a lot more to this guy
than meets the eye. - [Vivica] 17-year-old
Carlos Hallowell
00:22:34
has been held
at police headquarters for over six hours. (intense music) - [Vivica] The police
don't have enough evidence
00:23:06
to hold Carlos any longer. As a 17-year-old minor, he is released into the care of the Department
of Children and Families.
00:23:23
- Questioning has revealed inconsistency
in Hallowell's account. Is he a young man in shock,
grieving for his mother,
00:23:32
unable to
remember things clearly? Or could it be that
Carlos Hallowell is a sociopath
00:23:39
capable of killing his mother
with an axe? - This detective really don't
wanna believe this kid did it.
00:23:45
Trust me,
none of us want to believe a 17-year-old's
capable of doing this act.
00:23:50
- Only more time in the
interrogation room will tell. Coming up, Carlos
claims he blacked out.
00:24:05
- [Vivica] But first
come the flashbacks. - In Florida,
17-year-old Carlos Hallowell
00:24:17
has been released by police after being interviewed on the night of his mother
Denise's brutal murder.
00:24:25
However, with the history
of violence toward her, he is quickly becoming
their prime suspect.
00:24:32
- [Ciolino] He doesn't have
any kind of alibi. He's in the house, he's present,
00:24:36
but "I'm a deep sleeper"
is basically his alibi. You know, "When I go to sleep,
that's it."
00:24:41
This violent, and I mean
really violent crime occurs and Carlos has no idea
what's happening in that home.
00:24:47
None, zero. So right away,
the police are like, "Carlos, you're number one
with a bullet, my friend."
00:24:54
And they really don't look
any further than Carlos. - We didn't have enough at
the time to prove he did it.
00:25:01
We were still
very early into it. So letting him go
and still watching him and making sure
he's being supervised,
00:25:08
that was our best
course of action at the time. - You do have to get
all of the evidence gathered.
00:25:13
And that would mean
forensicating the scene, getting any sort of evidence
from cameras, phones together
00:25:20
before they put that
to Hallowell to say can you explain
how this happened? And we've got evidence to
support THIS version of events.
00:25:30
- [Vivica] Nine weeks after
his mother's murder, Carlos is invited back to
the interrogation room.
00:25:36
The Citrus County Police want to show him what their
investigation has uncovered.
00:25:42
Detective Holloway interviews
Carlos for the first time. - The detectives
are now going to
00:25:57
start to confront Carlos with the evidence
that they have against him. - And they start by
letting him know immediately
00:26:23
that there's an inconsistency
in his story and that his phone is
telling them what was going on.
00:26:55
- He's been told about what's called
cell site analysis, which is the ability
for law enforcement
00:27:02
to say where you were and what
you were doing on your phone, which not a lot of people
realize that we can do.
00:27:08
And those challenges then,
you know, created this internal sort of what we call
cognitive dissonance.
00:27:15
This incongruity,
now he realizes that his account and all of his efforts
to come over being super cool
00:27:22
are really not working. - [Vivica]
Although he denies it, the cell tower records prove
00:27:28
that Hallowell walked to
the lake behind the house to call 911. Why? Detectives may already
have the answer.
00:27:51
- [Maleary] In the interview,
you can clearly see the new detective
bring out a box of evidence.
00:27:56
Now, this would've been
really impactive for Hallowell. Hallowell be thinking, "What
on earth have they recovered?"
00:28:08
- [Chris] It was a tactic
to get him talking more because we had that evidence. I don't think he had
an idea of what we actually had,
00:28:14
and he may have thought
we were bluffing on what evidence we did have. So it was a tactic
more to let him know
00:28:19
we actually have him,
we know he did it. - [Vivica] After their previous
domestic dispute
00:28:24
when Carlos
had broken Denise's arm, she had installed
security cameras both outside
and inside the house.
00:28:31
(intense music) - [Vivica] Detectives have
discovered Denise's CCTV cameras that had been disconnected,
and then disposed of
00:29:13
in the lake
behind the Hallowell home. But that's not all. - [Robyn] "What else
do you think
00:29:19
"we would've found in the lake?" Carlos immediately says,
"My mom's phone." The only person
who's gonna know that
00:29:26
his mom's phone is in the lake is the person who put
his mom's phone in the lake.
00:29:33
- [Parm] The detectives
then put the fact that when he was making the 911 call,
he was by the lake,
00:29:39
which is why they had searched
it in the first place. And at that point, you can see
Hallowell's demeanor changing.
00:30:46
- The detectives
are talking to Carlos about trying to find
justice for them, his mom,
00:30:51
they've been working
endless hours, sleepless nights. And they would assume that,
00:30:56
you know, he wants justice too. And you can actually see Carlos
take, like, this breath.
(inhaling)
00:31:03
"Actually..." and he starts
banging the bottle on the table and he's, like,
made a decision, okay,
00:31:10
they have this evidence,
I need to change my story. I need to change my story.
00:31:16
So I'm gonna give them
a new version of events. - As it becomes
apparent to Hallowell
00:32:11
that the police have got
a lot more evidence than he originally
thought they had,
00:32:16
or that they would ever get, he starts talking about
having a blackout and he can't remember anything.
00:32:22
- The murderer will always
come up with these excuses, I don't remember,
I don't recall.
00:32:27
I blacked out, I fainted. I can't remember anything that
happened in that time period.
00:32:32
I don't know
what's the matter with me. I'm just putting it out of
my mind or whatever.
00:32:36
When you hear that, the confession's
not far behind, usually. - [Vivica] Detectives now reveal
that Carlos's cell phone data
00:33:53
shows that he never took a nap, despite that being
his initial statement. With his whole story
now dismantled,
00:34:01
he decides to start
speaking the truth. - Every time Carlos
changes his story,
00:34:06
he always has this big
breathing moment, like... (inhaling, exhaling) And then out comes
the new version of events.
00:34:40
- At this point,
Carlos has stopped disagreeing. Yes, there's no doubt
that I did this.
00:34:46
The interview's changed
to the affirmative. I'm responsible for it. Where are we going from here?
00:35:12
- The detectives do say, "Well look, you can tell us,
tell us what's happened."
00:35:17
And they do use
the silences as well, to give him time to reflect
and to answer the questions.
00:35:31
- Little by little
that he finally admits that he killed his mother. - [Vivica] Carlos has slowly
inched his way to a confession,
00:36:15
but his casual demeanor
is starkly at odds with the horror of
what he has done.
00:36:23
- [Darren] To penetrate the
skull to such a depth would've taken, I mean, just
a massive amount of anger.
00:36:30
Most people probably
couldn't summon that anger. And the innocuousness of the way that Hallowell was
speaking about, you know,
00:36:39
finding his mother,
et cetera, et cetera, it was almost like
he was making dinner.
00:36:44
You know, there was
no emotion attached to it. - Carlos Hallowell had
taken an axe from the shed,
00:36:50
sharpened it, and then carried it
into the room where his mother lay sleeping, then swung it, with full force,
00:36:58
deep into the back of her head. - [Vivica] While Carlos
has admitted to the murder,
00:37:09
detectives still need a motive. What would drive
a 17-year-old boy to violently slaughter
his own mother?
00:37:18
Coming up, Carlos claims
he had a good reason. - [Vivica] And he remains
hopeful of a bright future.
00:37:37
- I mean, it's all good. It's
all good in the hood for Carlos. - Carlos Hallowell
has confessed to
00:37:46
the brutal murder
of his mother, Denise. To wrap up the interrogation, the cops need to understand why.
00:37:54
When the case goes to trial, explaining motive
could be important for securing a conviction.
00:38:00
But understanding the behavior of someone as troubled as Carlos
will not be easy.
00:38:16
- [Darren] So when
we're looking at someone that's a narcissist
or a sociopath, we're looking at somebody that
00:38:22
is not only obsessed
with their self image, but also
the way they're perceived.
00:38:26
And it's all around
control and power. When it's put to him that
people have been scared of him,
00:38:34
that's a massive
adrenaline rush to his ego and that's why
we get these smiles,
00:38:39
because we call that
duping delight. It's basically
moral superiority. - It's at this point
that Hallowell
00:38:48
starts to give a reason
for what's taken place. He says that
there was an argument
00:38:53
prior to their arrival at home, and it's the first time that
there is a modicum of truth
00:38:59
within this entire interview. - [Vivica] According to Carlos, on the way home from
a family friend's funeral,
00:39:05
Denise had berated him over his decision
not to attend college. - He stated that his mother
00:39:19
had informed him that
he was worthless, that he had no credibility, that he was a person that
00:39:25
really was never gonna
achieve anything. - [Vivica] Carlos went on to
describe his mother, Denise,
00:39:47
as being consistently
abusive toward him. - [Chris] I don't think
he was abused.
00:39:52
I think his mom was
trying to be strict with him to make him
actually be responsible
00:39:54
and take responsibility
for his actions, what he was doing and not doing. I think he didn't like
being told what to do.
00:40:01
- [Maleary] In his version
of events, Hallowell would explain that on previous occasions where
he'd argued with his mother,
00:40:08
he would attack
inanimate objects. - [Maleary] Considering how
Denise Hallowell met her demise,
00:40:32
this account is
very, very chilling. - [Vivica] Although Carlos
has explained why he killed his mother,
00:40:40
he still seems disconnected with the severity
of what he has done. - [Chris] I think,
besides the immaturity,
00:41:13
he just thought he was
entitled to do what he did because his mom abused him. I think he thought
he was just gonna get
a little slap on a wrist
00:41:19
and everything
was gonna be okay. - The most important thing,
for me, is that Carlos doesn't think that
he's done anything wrong.
00:41:26
He knows that he committed
a crime, he knows that, but he doesn't think
that he was wrong.
00:41:40
- He starts talking about
continuing his education and going to college. It's almost like
the facts haven't sunk in
00:41:46
and the enormity of
what he's done hasn't sunk in. - "Man, I'm done. I told him
what they wanted to hear.
00:41:51
"We're good, it's all good. "No one liked her anyways,
right?" This is how he's thinking.
00:41:57
I did everyone a favor,
killing her. I go off play baseball,
drive her car, and spend her grocery money now.
00:42:03
I mean, it's all good. It's all good in the hood
for Carlos. - I don't think
he really grasps the fact that
00:42:09
he's going to jail
for the rest of his life. - [Vivica] Carlos Hallowell
was charged and tried
00:42:14
for premeditated
first-degree murder. - He was not eligible
for the death penalty
00:42:20
because of his age. But he was tried as an adult. - [Vivica] In July, 2021, Carlos Hallowell was found
guilty of first-degree murder
00:42:32
of his adopted mother, Denise, and was sentenced
to life in prison without the possibility
of parole.
00:42:39
Although their investigation had taken over two months and many hours of interrogation,
00:42:45
the detectives had been able to bring justice
for Denise Hallowell. They had found a way to get
inside Carlos's sociopathic mind
00:42:55
and deliver the truth. - [Maleary] The officers
successfully empower Hallowell. And by that I mean that
he was able to
00:43:07
deliver his true feelings
about his mother. It just showed that
he had no love
00:43:11
and no respect for the woman that adopted him
at the age of four. And the officers
didn't close him down.
00:43:21
They allowed him to
display his true feelings. - And he does talk
about loving his mom,
00:43:27
but I'm not sure that
he actually showed any remorse or regret for what happened.
00:43:33
And I thought
that was really sad because she had taken him in, she'd adopted him,
looked after him
00:43:39
for the whole of his life, and he had repaid her
with an axe in her head. - Her whole life
was about Carlos.
00:43:47
She put most of her life
on hold to raise Carlos. When he was getting older, she wanted him to be
a responsible adult,
00:43:54
and the best person he could be. And she definitely
did not deserve anything that happened to her.
00:43:59
(intense music)